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Friday, June 29, 2012

I guess by now you realize I'm not at home these days but travelling across this wonderful country of ours. My house and garden are in good hands so I don't have to worry about that. I do miss my own plants but I'm compensating for that by visiting other gardens and nurseries. I liked the various colours in the plants below. Check out the sites listed at the bottom.

Thursday, June 28, 2012

I've been a cat lover for years. When my daughter started kindergarten we got a shelter kitten named Blossom (on her certificate). She was quickly renamed Mittens because of her 4 white paws. To me, she was always affectionately called Puss!! Puss lived for 17 years.

I was visiting relatives in Ottawa and they have a beautiful white Persian called Tissue (Scotties tissue commercial). These photos are for my stitching friend in NL who has cats. She'll know who I mean.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Trees are often used in my art work. Here are a few posts to reference: Back Garden, Ginkgo Tree, Work In Progress, and Gower Street, St. John's. As I often write, my camera is with me constantly. If I spy something of interest, I 'shoot' it. A tree or flower might just be the one to fit into a piece of art. You can crop, sketch, resize, or scan anything in your photos. I prefer to use my own photos as I know there will be no issues using them. Check out these trees from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec:

Monday, June 25, 2012

The weather in Nova Scotia has been great since I've been here. I haven't been able to post to my blog as often but I have been taking lots of wonderful photos. Some of them are definitely worth consideration for future textile work. The view from my brother-in-law's back garden is spectacular. You can look way up the valley in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia. Off to the side of the driveway is a small pond with tall grass, cattails, tall trees, lots of noisy frogs, turtles and gold fish. It's the perfect spot to sit with a sketch book. (I used my camera instead). Enjoy!

Friday, June 22, 2012

I was looking at the sites listed on WIP Wednesday - a site for Canadian bloggers and came across True Blue Canadian. Dolores was kind enough to post lots of photos of the Quesnel Quilt Show held in British Columbia. I think you will enjoy the show. Go HERE, HERE and HERE. Thanks for sharing, Dolores.

Monday, June 18, 2012

I was out walking this morning in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, and found a great little yarn shop called From Ewe to You. The owner is Rachel Hooper. Her shop has beautiful yarns. Of course I was drawn to the glittery stuff. She also has fun projects and patterns, needles and knitting accessories, books, gifts (some made by local artists), as well as some felting supplies. Here's some photos of the shop. The second photo shows a knitted shawl that has been blocked to the correct size. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Summer is my favorite time of year. Usually the weather is warmer and you can go outside without heavy outdoor clothes - most of the time! It's always nice to spend time on the patio with a snack and a drink. To help keep the bugs off your food, make one of these neat bowl covers from Sew Mama Sew. You can get some decorative metal corner tabs to keep the cover from blowing off from the $ Shop or make your own from glass beads and findings. Add an outdoor padded roll-up cushion to your patio collection. If you like picnics, surprise your family with these napkin flatware rolls and picnic place mat tote or these place mats.

Thinking ahead - why not make these items for Christmas gifts!
I'm travelling for the next two months across the country so my blog posts may not be every day.
Enjoy!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Today's post is devoted to drinks of all kinds: tea, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade . . . Of course, I'm writing about textile related 'stuff'! Below is my first attempt at needle felting. A few years ago, I entered it into a show about drinks, and the piece was purchased.

Now I'm going to post some links related to drinks. Some links have free patterns while others are just eye candy. Anyway, enjoy this one!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Here's a sewing machine cover that I custom designed for one of my machines. This machine has its own plexi glass table that was made especially for it. It is much larger than the commercial ones. I also had a extra thread holder that clipped onto the top of the machine. As a result, an ordinary cover wouldn't fit. Below you can see the various sides of the cover. The unique part of this cover is that it wraps around the machine with the back opened. I also slit two of the sides to fit over the table. (Two different machines were used to photograph the cover). The fabric is plain muslin that is sandwiched and free motioned all over.

The grey cod fish are original pieces that were stitched on my embroidery machine while the orange fish were traced onto fabric and then stitched out using free motion stitching. I put pockets on both ends and in front. However, I find that I don't use them. It's much easier to hang my small scissors to the back of the machine in easy reach (hook just to the right & behind machine). In the beginning I put stuff in the pockets and never remember that and kept looking around for the stuff on the table so I figured 'what the heck' and kept them empty. I have also learned not to move things around in my room as I can never find them afterwards!

You can see my stained glass window in the background. Go HERE to see a full view.